Critics

"An elegant, delicate, and light-touched performance with the modern instrument. Lucid timbre is also beautiful. Non-Baroque style ornaments are sometimes inserted, which gives this recording unique character. This is a wonderful performance with secure skills."

Rating (highest possible):

American Record Guide, 2015 JULY/AUGUST

On Claudia Schaer's recording of the Bach Sonatas and Partias:

"[...] One distinguishing characteristic is [Schaer's] gentle attacks. I am reminded of Leopold Mozart's book on violin playing where he extolls that "small softness" at the beginning of a bow stroke (which modern violinists generally avoid in their quest for the undetectable bow change)."

"The work was inspired by the Luigi Serafini (an Italian artist and architect) and his Codex Seraphinianus. True to the source material, di Castri created a mysterious, colourful world [...] The amplified violin was showcased here, and Claudia Schaer did a wonderful job handling the different techniques thrown at her by the composer."

"[Serafiniana] was a thoughtfully fused paradigm of pre-recorded and amplified violin, played by soloist Claudia Schaer, with the [Esprit] chamber orchestra at her back. The piece made use of grand pauses to dramatic effect, and included thwarts of strange glissandos and delicate pizzicati. [...] di Castri's piece was wonderfully imaginative and lovingly performed"

"Great Music, Expertly Performed in Parksville""[First Violinist of the Minerva Quartet] Schaer is not just a leader. She is a superb musician. In the Nielsen and Beethoven quartets she somehow managed to find a myriad of ways to phrase with a plethora of dynamics that can be described as soulful expressions of beauty. She brought her great talent to these works and made them sound like masterpieces (which they could be). I marveled at the amount of dynamics she was inspired to express, and thought Nielsen and Beethoven would have, too. For Dvorak's quartet; it seemed that she just played its melodies et al and let the work speak for itself. A superb artist, she was an inspiration to me and had me completely mesmerized."

"Capturing the heart of the modernistic voice."The Thy Chamber Music Festival Concert on Wednesday: pure excellence. [...] Alfred Schnittke's moving piano quintet ended the program with a strong impact. Music "with conscience", it requires the performer's utmost control of nuance, and demands the audence's deep concentration. The performance was elating, from the heart, and stellarly executed. The audience left the theatre moved to the core."

The Canadian violinist Claudia Schaer played this evening in the Chiostro di S.Elisabetta in Barga Vecchia – the last concert in the series “Musica nei Borghi 2007″. On the programme: G.Ph. Telemann, Fantasia in Si bemolle Magg, Bach, Sonata in La Min (see the small video below) and followed by B.Bartók, Sonata per violino solo. Following on comments about the operabarga festival this year concerning the high level of the musicians performing this year [...] it was gratifying to note that this evening the Chiostro was full with standing room only at the back.

Konzertkritik Magasin Elfenau Park; Bern, Switzerland, 2007 July 12

"[...] a superb musician.In Bach's Solo Sonata in A -, glorious music in full, she gave her all. [...] She played a stellar Paganini Caprice, and then a sublimely beautiful and loving Mozart. In her final piece, the Ciaccona by Bach (a pinnacle work for violinists, requiring utmost creative power and true virtuosity), Claudia Schaer proved to us that she possesses a stupendous breadth of sensitivity and ability. We thank her deeply for this beautiful concert.

" ...The lasting impression is the quality of the performers. Violinist Claudia Schaer was a rock-solid centerpiece, her meaty tone functioning like an unblinking witness to the depth and bitterness of [Lifchitz's] piece."

"Your solo was gorgeous - you play [Bach] with the Baroque phrasing, and the modern palette of colours. It's the best of both worlds."~ Meredith Hall, soprano, April 6, 2012; after St.Matthew's Passion, Canada

"I have heard many violinists play the [Bach] Ciaccona, but yours was by far the most moving - it was so beautiful, never forced. I was nearly weeping by the end."~ Jørgen Munk,September 26, 2011; Lodbgerg Church, Denmark